Meenakshi Amman Temple, Madurai

Two windows with a long afternoon closure between them, published by the state department that administers the temple.

Madurai appears in Tamil Sangam literature of the 1st to 4th centuries CE, and Tamil texts suggest a temple stood in the city by the mid-6th century. The oldest surviving masonry dates from the Pandya emperor Sadayavarman Kulasekaran I (r. 1190 to 1216), who built the gopuram at the entrance to the Sundareswarar shrine and the central part of the Meenakshi shrine. His successors added more towers in the 13th century, including the Chitra gopuram on the west.

In 1311 Malik Kafur, leading the armies of the Delhi Sultanate, raided Madurai, destroyed temples including this one and carried a vast haul of gold and jewellery back to Delhi. The temple stayed closed for about 60 years. After the Vijayanagara Empire took Madurai in 1378, Kumara Kampana rebuilt the temple and its defensive walls, and the idols that had been hidden were brought back and reconsecrated.

Most of what visitors see today was built or expanded by the Madurai Nayaks in the 16th and 17th centuries. Under Vishwanatha Nayak (r. 1529 to 1564) the complex was fortified and the vimana over the Meenakshi shrine was gilded, and his minister Ariyanatha Mudaliar oversaw the thousand-pillared hall. The tallest tower, the southern gopuram, was built in the late 16th century, and Tirumala Nayaka (r. 1623 to 1655) added the Vasantha mandapa.

The temple declined during British rule and was restored after independence with money collected from the public. On 8 July 1939 a group of Dalits led by A. Vaidyanatha Iyer and Kakkan entered the temple, one of the events that led the Madras Presidency to end the exclusion of the depressed classes later that year. The temple is administered by Tamil Nadu's Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, and kumbhabhishekam ceremonies were held in 1974, 1995 and 2009.

Deities

Meenakshi and Sundareswarar

Complex

5.7 ha (14 acres)

Gopurams

14; the tallest is 52 m (170 ft)

Thousand-pillared hall

985 carved pillars

Temple tank

Golden lotus pond, 50 m by 37 m

Administered by

Tamil Nadu HR&CE Department

Why Meenakshi Amman Temple matters to Hindus

The temple is dedicated to Meenakshi, a form of Parvati, and her consort Sundareswarar, a form of Shiva. Her name means fish-eyed. In the 16th-century Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam, a daughter appeared from the sacrificial fire of King Malayadhwaja Pandya, grew up to rule Madurai, and took her true form as Meenakshi when she met Shiva, whom she married. For most devotees Meenakshi is the more important of the pair: her shrine sits at the centre of the complex and is visited first, and she is addressed as Mother.

The temple brings together three strands of Hinduism. Shiva is Meenakshi's husband, Vishnu is her brother who gives her away at the wedding, and Meenakshi herself is central to the Shakta tradition. It is a Paadal Petra Sthalam, one of the 276 Shiva temples praised in the Tevaram hymns, and the Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam names it among the four most important of 68 Shaiva pilgrimage places, with Varanasi, Chidambaram and Tirukkalatti. The Sundareswarar shrine is counted as the Velli Ambalam, the silver hall, one of the five courts where Shiva performed his cosmic dance.

More facts about Meenakshi Amman

Deities

Meenakshi, a form of Parvati, and Sundareswarar, a form of Shiva

Where

Madurai, Tamil Nadu

Administered by

Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, Government of Tamil Nadu

Gopurams

Fourteen in total: four nine-storey, one seven-storey, five five-storey and two three-storey

Tallest tower

The southern gopuram, at 170 ft (52 m), built in the late sixteenth century

Main festival

Meenakshi Tirukalyanam, celebrated over 15 days in the month of Chithirai

Nightly ritual

Metallic footprints representing Shiva are carried in a palanquin to Meenakshi's chamber every evening

Also known as

Meenakshi Temple, Madurai Meenakshi Temple, Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, Meenakshi Amman Kovil

Madurai is hot and dry for eight months of the year, and March to July are the hottest months, with summer highs of around 42 °C. The climate is more moderate from August to October, with heavy rain and thunderstorms, and slightly cooler from November to February, when winter temperatures range from about 18 °C to 30 °C. That cooler stretch is the gentlest time for walking the temple's open courtyards and streets.

The biggest crowds come with Chithirai Thiruvizha in the Tamil month of Chithirai, when the Meenakshi Tirukalyanam, the divine wedding, is the most attended festival of the year. The administrator states that the timings of daily poojas change during festival time. Navaratri in Purattasi is another busy period, when the complex is lit up at night and golu displays fill the golu mandapa.

Within the day, the published hours are 05:00 to 12:30 and 16:00 to 22:00, with the temple kept closed in between, so plan a morning or evening visit rather than one around midday.

Tips before you go

• Do not plan to arrive between 12:30 and 16:00: the administrator states the temple is kept closed then.
• Check the administrator's page before travelling; it has carried a notice closing temple services for the Kumbhabishegam ceremony.
• Visit the Meenakshi shrine before Sundareswarar, as most pilgrims do, since she is the temple's primary deity.
• Look for the musical pillars outside the thousand-pillared hall, which give a note when struck.
• The thousand-pillared hall houses an art museum with icons, photographs and drawings about the temple.